Rodadero and Santa Marta

Sunday, January 20, 2002

011-11.880 N
074-13.800 W

I've decided to provide more frequent updates on the trip through Colombia as lots of people expressed concern over the area. I would say that those concerns are well founded, but primarily apply to the interior of the country. The coastline seems to be relatively unaffected by the internal strife. Everyone, however, does warn of the dangers in the interior & does their best to distance themselves from the Mafia (as they call them). Clearly these groups who are fighting do not represent the people.

Having said that, Colombia is a wonderful place. Right now we're anchored in Rodadero, which from what we've been told, is a bustling Colombian tourist destination for about 2 months in December and January and then is a ghost town the rest of the year. The beach is lined with high-rise hotels/condos, which I guess where built during the 70s and 80s with drug money, but now the government has clamped down on that type of money laundering.

The beach, which is about 1/2 of a mile long, is packed with people and vendors. The town only goes back about 4 blocks from the beach. The energy here is amazing. People everywhere having fun. Late into the night you can hear little bands with hand drums and accordions playing on the beach, with people spontaneously dancing around them.

Food is quite cheap here. You can easily go out and get a good dinner for $3 to $10 US. A beer is typically around $0.50 to $0.75 US. However, this is the only place where US dollars aren't accepted. Everywhere else people want US dollars as they're stable.

Yesterday we took taxis to Santa Marta, which is in the next bay over. Talk about a bustlingcity! The central area of the city, which goes for blocks and blocks, is packed with little shops and the sidewalks are lined non-stop with street vendors. What's interesting is that the vendors seem to have arranged themselves into groupings. For example, there's on block which is lined with people who will laminate documents. I never knew that was such a thriving business! And then there's the stationary store block, the fabric block, the electronics block, etc. The streets are packed with people, and the noise! Wow, talk about a din. But it's impressively clean.

About 2 AM tonight we'll depart so that we can cross the Rio Magdalena, which is a major river which often has lots of debris, during daylight. We'll end up in Punta Hermosa, which is the last stop before Cartagena.
Log ID: 159